


Waterfall Hike At Midnight

by Neon_Opal



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: Adventure, Gen, One Shot, fright - Freeform, supernatural?, waterfalls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 09:58:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neon_Opal/pseuds/Neon_Opal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the LOTR cast goes on a late night adventure to hike down a waterfall during some period of filming LOTR in New Zeland. Friendship only.  A mystical feeling induced by the setting and of course, ones friends need to add a little fear to the mix, right? There is very mild cursing (kept that restrained for rating system compliance where originally posted so may seem too tame for guys that age). About 1,330 words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waterfall Hike At Midnight

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for an October short spooky story challange on another site 7 years ago and had actually forgotten about it till I went in search of those stories for a new friend recently. I still very much like it. Changed only a few words here and there and added the word Hike to the title because I really felt it made it sound romantic the original way. I corrected (I hope) the last of lingering spelling and typos. Was inspired by some idotioc but wonderful thing I did in my early 20's with a bunch of male friends in Ithica NY. Hope I got all the taging correct in this first posting (why i started with one that didn't need a lot of warnings)

Waterfall Hike at Midnight...

 

“Why are we doing this again?” Elijah asked grabbing Orlando’s arm as they made their way down the stairs beside the waterfall. It was nearly midnight and very dark and rather creepy. 

“Cause Viggo said it was awesome.” Orlando answered taking his next step with care. The steps were wet and slick and a mist of water was spraying them. Why the heck hadn’t they brought a flashlight!

“I’m really getting worried about you listening to him. I think this may well be the stupidest thing you’ve let him talk us into. Damn!” Lij swore nearly losing his footing and grabbed Orlando’s arm again for balance.

The inky water gurgled along beside them as they made their way along a flat part of the path, cautiously placing one foot in front of the other testing for ground as they moved along. The roar of the water got louder and they were at another rickety staircase descending along the next drop of the falls. Their eyes had become a bit more adjusted to the dark but it was still only this side of pitch black. Little light from the moon and stars penetrated the foliage along the path and overhanging the gorge, somehow though it was awesome. There was a sense of the immense power of nature as the gorge rose above them on the other side. The trees and rocks were displayed in blacks and grays. 

Orlando and Elijah began their decent of the next steep staircase. The railing felt rather slimy and rotted from the moisture. Light glinted off the rushing water in silver sparks; it made a sound like thunder drowning out attempts at conversation. The bottom was a long way below them, yet the falls were close enough to touch. 

They reached the foot of the stairs and continued forward. Random firefly flashes blinked occasionaly. There was something mystical about it, just the sort of thing Viggo loved. Leaves rustled and insects hummed and a few unknown night birds called out to each other from time to time. Yet it was oddly still. The air was damp and carried that woodsy vegetation smell and honeysuckle that seemed to be growing all along the trail. Orlando felt a shiver down his spine.

“What is that?” Elijah gasped as they rounded a bend. There by the base of a tree seemed to be the huddled figures of an adult and child in the shadows. It was too hazy to see clearly but it wasn’t the right size for any of their party. Who was it? What were they doing lying there? Were they hurt? Lost?

“Bloody hell!” Orland hissed as he took a tentative step forward, and the illusion was gone evaporated with the shift in the slight illumination of the moon, a trick of shadow. Still his heart was pounding in his chest and he could hear the blood rushing in his ears.

“Nothing.” He answered himself.

“God… but it looked like...” Elijah started and trailed off.

“I know…freaky.” Orlando said with another shiver.

“Do you think it was ghosts?” Lij clutched at his arm again.

“Don’t say stuff like that…it was an optical illusion...be quiet. Let’s just find the others.” Orlando shook him off.

“Damn, this is too weird! I want to go back. And admit it you are scared too.” He tried to squint to see clearer in the gloom. “Where the hell is Vig and I haven’t seen Dom or Billy either. What if they’re lost?” Elijah whispered being ever the one for drama.

“I’m sure they are Not lost! But I admit, I’d have rather stayed at that cozy pub with Karl, and Sean and that lot, far smarter than we are that bunch. But I guess we are braver.” He would not admit how frightened he was.

“Or stupider.” Answered Elijah flippantly, trying to cover his fear with bravado.

They started along the path again. Light glinted off the rushing water, which was closer after the last set of stairs. The unfamiliar sounds around them kept giving them a start. Rocks jutted out along the path creating odd-looking shapes and additional hazards to walking. This probably was very dangerous and not at all a lark like Orlando had thought when they started out.

A point glowed red before them, an eerie light in the blackness. Orlando stifled a yelp as he realized it was from Viggo’s cigarette not a demon eye.

“Are you ok my prissy elf?” Vig teased his face glowing eerily in the light of the cigarette. He sat on a rock stuck in the middle of the trail.

“Of course.” He smirked though he doubted Viggo could see it. “Elves see perfectly in the dark…EXCEPT I’m NOT really an elf and it’s bloody freaky out here.” 

“Why’d you leave us like that?” Lij snapped.

“Just keeping my own pace, no harm meant.” He stubbed out his cigarette on the rock where he was seated and put the butt in his pocket. Viggo never littered.

“Can we go back now?” Elijah asked.

“Already my brave hobbit?” Vig asked getting up from the rock, which was in the center of the path.

“Ummm... Vig this is all very amusing but that’s called ACTING. Right now we are  
REALY walking along a gorge by a waterfall in the pitch dark with no light.” Elijah informed him.

“It’s better this way, its nature. Don’t you feel it? We’ll go back soon.” And he led then further along the path into an area of deeper blackness.

The three of them reached a broader flat stretch of trail. It was more a sense of the space rather than their being able to seeing it properly. Branches swayed low at the edge of the trail scratching the ground and it smelled very dank.

“GAHHH! ARRGG!” Something cried jumping out of the trees before them accompanied by the sound of snapping sticks and rustling leaves.

Orlando and Elijah screamed. Then their eyes registered the forms of Dom and Billy in the dim light, who then burst out laughing hysterically.

“Damn you!” Elijah cursed them.

“Bloody F’n hell! You sacred the piss out of us!” Orlando let out with an angry cry.

Dom and Billy continued laughing hysterically and slapping one another on the back at the fear they had induced in their two friends.

“Oh I’m glad you thought that was such great fun. Losers!” Elijah retorted, angry now.

“Ha, you two screamed like little girls.” Dom sniggered with glee.

“Shut it!” Lij took a swat at Billy who was closest and doubled over with laughter.

Viggo had been oddly silent as these events unfolded. Orlando turned on him.

“You were in on it old man, weren’t you!” He accused. “Why did you let them do that Vig?” Orlando sounded hurt as he said this.

“I have no control over them. You know that. No harm’s done.” Viggo answered. “But we should head back up. It will take a while.”

Elijah, Dom and Billy hurried back along the trail as fast as conditions would allow.  
Orlando lingered back with Viggo.

“So what do you think of this place? Powerful, isn’t it?” Viggo questioned as they walked along slowly.

“It’s beautiful but it’s strange. I can imagine the Elves being here and Hobbits on their Quest. Did you see it by that tree… around that bend as we came down? It looked like a mother and a child were lying there by one of the trees? Lij thought it was a ghost.”

“Yes I saw. Amazing.” Viggo’s eyes twinkled in the moonlight.

“Weird. But it was just shadow.” Orlando stated trying to make himself believe it.

“Was it? Are you sure? A place like this has a magic and mystique all its’ own.” Viggo said. Together they started to ascend the bottom staircase. Orlando pondered the events of the evening; the pump of adrenaline was leaving his system. He felt drained and glad his friends were close by. It had been one of the most amazing, beautiful and terrifying nights of his life and he would not trade it for the world.

 

The End


End file.
